The Balance of Power
by Cherio
Summary: Kaoru is forced into a position where she must find and expose a killer and thief who is not only out to destroy her country and king, but he will try anything to kill her as well. BK
1. River of Dust

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

I'm killing off a charecter next chapter. I know who it is, but do you? The first person to get it right gets a drabble of their choice dedicated to them on my LiveJournal (homepage). Just leave your email and I'll contact you.

* * *

"_Inconceivable!"_

_-The Princess Bride_

**Cherio**

**Balance of Power**

**1**

Dusk hung outside in the night heat like thick walls, it seemed to press all life into one room of an inconspicuous mansion.

Inside a man sat, whether or not this old house belonged to him, we don't know. He was just out of sight from a nameless petty thief called for a meeting of sorts. For crimes this man was about to indirectly commit, he felt he needed the darkest room in a house far from any civilization.

"I want you back with the spoils by tomorrow night." the man said this with a sort of haughty self-assurance, which annoyed the thief. He hated facing someone who was obviously so above him. It was impossible to make out the man's figure, but it didn't matter, it was, after all, just a job.

"My lord, that will cost you a great deal." The thief was dressed in dirty torn clothes like the street urchin he was. He spoke in the rough tones of the common tongue; in fact he appeared very common.

"I am willing to pay any price, just do the job. And make sure, that if all else fails, to get me what we talked about."

"I hear and obey."

* * *

The day was hot. In fact, the days had been hot for as long as she cared to remember. It wasn't humid hot either, the city was filled with the kind of heat that makes you feel the wrinkles and tan forming on skin, draining your energy. The kind that even with the absence of a breeze seems to lift the dry dirt from the ground and plant it on your sweaty brow. 

Kaoru brought her dusty hand to her face, wiping this gross combination of sweat and dirt from her features. Which, only managed to smear what was there and leave the dirt that had previously been on her hand wet. From her position leaning against the royal castles south wall she could see only the brown dyeing grass at her bare feet. Her heavy black boots lay practically forgotten and drooping at her side.

Kaoru was annoyed, not angry, it was too damn hot to be angry, but definitely annoyed. The captain had assigned her here with purpose, and reason. He had known there would be no shade, and no wind on the south wall. He also knew the south wall was in no danger of being attacked. Even if it was in any danger, he still wished her no good will. If the south wall were approached at all, she would certainly not stand a chance of a group of rebels with a cause. Yes, the south wall was undoubtedly a boring, uncomfortable and unuseful place to be. It hadn't even been a position until this morning, what kind of defense is one guard anyway?

Kaoru sighed and sunk to the ground raising more dust into the air, which gravitated toward her hair, face, and mouth. She spared a glance to the sky. The sun was getting lower, her shadow growing longer. She smiled with the sunset she would be free to round the corner to the west wall, were she knew the wind that was now blocked by the stone behind her, would hit like a two ton hammer.

A shadow passed above her head. Without looking up she called "Misao! I know you're up there!" the shadow grew larger and closer, until a small smiling woman stood right before her. Her cute but weasel-like face contorted with glee.

"I was wondering were you were Kaoru! This isn't your usual location." She managed to sound sad, exited, and mad all at the same time. Quite a feat.

The weasel girl looked around, still smiling. "It's like an oven out here. I think your right, that commander of yours hates you. Why else would he make you stand out here all day?"

Kaoru got to her feet trying once again in vain to wipe the dirt from her face. Misao was part of the special mission corps (aka: the glorified tree hopping snoops), and also happened to be her best friend and bunkmate. "Yeah, you would think he knows what a low life I am or something."

Misao's smile turned mock secretive "guess what"

"What?"

"You're supposed to guess"

Kaoru, playing along, faked a frown and replied "and you're supposed to be doing your job"

"Well, so are you."

She managed to sound indignant in her reply: "I am doing my job" Misao just glanced meaningfully in the general direction of Kaoru's boots. But as she stared accusingly, produced from some hidden pocket a sack of relatively unsquashed fresh berries. After Misao finished scrutinizing her footwear they sat down to an afternoon snack. For a long time they sat eating and waiting for the sun to set.

"Hey, Kaoru" Misao said sometime later.

"Yeah?"

"When do you think the rain will come back? Aoshi says it's not just the Yendor that's lost it, all the nations have." Misao paused with a serious face she rarely ever showed "it's worrying me, as much as I try to believe in the truth of the legend, the rain's been gone from the world for too long this is a major drought were in…Kaoru will you tell the legend again? We've got the time. And you make a better storyteller than I do." as she said this she still looked discontent, and she had a point, they did have the time.

"Well, I don't know when the rain will come back, but it will. Phases come and go, such is life" Kaoru replied with a shrug, "what I can tell you though, is the story of beginning."

* * *

_Before there was life, there existed a god, a goddess, and a wide empty field of reality, filled only with rocks of all things. Although the god and the goddess were grand friends and enjoyed each other's company very much, they felt alone in their wide space without a purpose. _

_While the two were walking together, the god noticed that they were not actually moving, that they had the elusion of movement. So, the god created time and the god and the goddess moved throughout the realm as the rocks now rotated and sparkled, gaining different shapes and colors. _

_As they walked the goddess felt lonely despite her companion, she realized that the only thinking beings in the realm were herself and the god. So, the goddess created life, and living-breathing organisms populated the realm and were able to move and age, due to the god's time._

_The god and goddess were pleased with their creations and gave the beings what they needed to survive, such as heat, water, plant life, light, and darkness. Soon there were many different kinds of life, in many different forms. There was life that lived within the water, on land, and even in the sky. Soon life began to name itself, horses, dogs, cats, rats, and many more different species emerged. _

_A group that called themselves the humans began to organize. They created covers for their skin, huts for protection from the elements that the god and goddess had given them. As these humans began to advance in knowledge, they created villages, cities and eventually countries. They named leaders, chiefs, kings, and queens. The god and goddess were uneasy at all this development, but accepted it as the natural course of things._

* * *

Not much time passed before humans began to fight each other, over land, food, and goods, and the religions they all had grown to see differently. There were great wars, fought with terrible weapons, all for greed, a selfish greed for power and intolerance. Many humans and other beasts died only to be left forgotten on bloody battlefields. 

The god and goddess grew angry at the humans constant fighting. They sent warnings and threatened of things to come if they could not find peace. When the humans scoffed at the warnings, the god and goddess reacted. First they took away darkness. With darkness gone the humans were puzzled, but began to fight with even more vigor, with no darkness to hinder their process. Next they took away plant life. Even so the battling continued though they where hungry. They took heat, after that, humans began to kill to take the clothes of others. Growing increasingly more disturbed the god and goddess next took water. The wars raged on despite the thirst.

With only light left on their earth, the humans looked around and saw in that light the loss of their fellow beings, as well as their loss of the gifts they had been granted at the beginning of life. The wars ended, and the humans begged the god and goddess to give back the gifts that had been removed from the earth.

The god and goddess complied, but with an alteration to their plan at the begging of life. The god and goddess selected four humans, each of those humans received one of the gifts given at the begging of life. The gifts were divided into, fire, water, growth, and illumination, one for each of the four humans.

The god and goddess said to all the humans of the word, that for all time, life should have all four of the gifts. The gifts would be passed down from parent to child forever. However, if one of the four families should die out, the gift that family carries should die with it. As long as these gifts survive there would be enough the correct balance of fire, water, growth, and illumination to preserve life.

Each of the gifted humans created separate nations, and devoted themselves to pieces. The queen of growth created the East Nation, the queen of water created the West Nation, the king of fire created the South Nation, and the king of illumination created the North Nation. As the years passed the nations prospered. The title of leader was passed to the child who possessed the gift of their land.

And so, the world has always had light in the day, and dark in the night, has always had mortality and growth in all things, has always had the warmth of fire, and has always had the rains.

The sun had set by the time Kaoru had finished. It was dark but still hot, always so hot. Misao sat up and stretched, her arms almost hitting Kaoru on their way up. Then she looked to the sky

"I hope **someone** can make it rain."

Kaoru sat up as well, and started to put on her socks.

"It will probably rain on its own, you don't really believe that story do you?"

Misao looked at her, "The Makimachi clan has always believed in the old ways." Misao looked to the sky somberly as Kaoru finished lacing her boots.

Misao stood suddenly, reaching for her kunai just as a cry echoed from behind the wall. The cry was followed closely by whispered curses.

Kaoru stood as well and looked up the wall soon enough to see a figure jump from the top to land in front of her and Misao. The man started to run.

Kaoru gave chase, kunai flying past her ear and embedding themselves in the ground or in nearby trees. She was not getting any closer, even with the large bag that was weighing the thief down. She tried to run faster, but it all felt so futile as he sped forward toward the now not so distant trees. just as he was about to enter a wooded area, a kunai tore into his thy and he faltered. He cursed and grasped at his leg to pull out the kunai, it wouldn't budge. Kaoru was closing in. he gave up his attempt to dislodge the kunai, as he started running again but he was limping and she was catching up.

She felt Misao in the trees closing in. She heard the roar of a group of soldiers giving chase far behind them. She looked back to judge their distance, they weren't in sight.

Still looking over her shoulder she ran head on into him. They both grunted, the leg with the kunai collapsing instantly, he rolled in the air so his arm with the bag was extended to his side. He hit the ground silently and bounced into the air again. Kaoru instinctively pinned him with her legs. His bag of stolen goods flew into the air and landed a few feet from them spilling expensive jewelry and gold coins.

The crowd was drawing close and Misao had come up beside them to yank her kunai out from his bleeding leg with a noise of disgust.

They had arrived en a clearing that consisted of dead grass or dirt, (hard to tell, it was brown) not surprising.

"What did you take?" Misao demanded even as she wiped the blood from her kunai. Their thief looked the worse for wear, with tattered clothes that stunk, bad, and a dirty face they could barely make out due to all the mud caked onto it. But he wasn't an ordinary thief, stupid maybe, but not ordinary. He had only stolen a small amount of what must have been in the royal treasury, and it was easy to tell these jewels had come from the royal treasury. All but the smallest gem had the royal insignia on them. He would not have been able to sell those off and gotten away with it. He could have easily stolen the same amount of jewels from some other lord. So why choose the king?

"What did you take?" this time Kaoru asked the question. Then to Misao she said, "I can take care of this"

"You sure? I can help."

"I'll be fine." Misao just shrugged, "whatever you say." She walked away to meet and greet the thief's pursuers.

"He's going to be angry" the thief said, matter of facktly.

"Of course he's going to be angry, fool!" Kaoru hissed annoyed, "You STOLE from him."

"No. HE is going to be angry, he wanted it." He now sounded anxious, his eyes darted side to side, looking for threats that existed only in his fears, "I failed, he'll kill me."

Kaoru growled "Who wanted what?"

He did not answer still fighting, looking for something. He stopped searching and extended his arm as far as it would go, given that Kaoru was sitting on him. Kaoru looked over to see the smallest blue gem rolling toward them. She slapped his hand away with a satisfying _thwap_, "answer me dammit!"

The man just tried for the gem again, still determined to come away with something.

_THWAP!_

Kaoru reached for the gem herself, and dropped its surprisingly heavy weight into her pocket.

She didn't notice Misao looking to the sky, or the stop of the search party behind her.

What she did notice was the secretive, wry smile the man gave her. "No" he whispered loudly, "he won't be mad at me" his smile widened "he won't kill me either." He said slowly, with that dangerous smile.

He leaned closer up to her face, looking smug, and in a whisper barely loud enough for her to hear it he said, "He will kill you."

Angered, kaoru drew her palm back for a clean hit, but her slap fell on a lax face, he had passed out. She made up for here loss by tightly binding his hands then stood. Misao was still looking to the sky, along with the rest of the soldiers that had followed the now unresponsive thief to this grove.

Kaoru looked up as well. She could not tear her eyes away from the sight. Never in her life, had she been so happy to see a starless sky. For the sky was covered in a thick layer of clouds.

The first drop fell on her face, and then before she could bat an eyelash, the rain poured down onto the entire party.

The rain was cool, but not cold. She was soaking and she loved it, wished the rain could go deeper than her skin. The grime that she had tried so futilely to rub off her skin earlier fell away leaving the clean sense of beginning in its place. In that moment she knew that people all over the world were standing in the rain soaked to the bone, just like her. Happy, just like her.

She looked to the ground to see the mud. What she saw was the kings riches covered in dirt and filth. Oddly, this didn't bother her in the least; she didn't feel the need to tidy up for the man who employed her, just like she didn't feel the need to get out of the rain.

Apparently someone did feel such needs. More people had gathered around the clearing. Mostly only guards and soldiers had come, but there was one little bald man carrying a very wet scroll.

The little man shuffled forward looking aghast and appalled at the mess made of the riches in the mud. With a small cry of horror, he began moving about picking up pieces of gold and cleaning them with his tunic. Only to look around for clean dry place to set them down on, and come up empty handed. He shuffled around at what Kaoru assumed was his mach speed, the pile of gold and jewels in his arms growing larger and larger. Kaoru knew what was coming. just as he reached down to pick up the last piece, the pile toppled over into the mud, again.

He was about to start up again, to the amusement of the majority of his audience, one man looking wet and unhappy about being so, cleared his throat, "sir?"

The little man shot the man who dare question him a disturbingly dirty look, and kept staring, and staring. Such fuss over nothing. Then still staring he cleared his throat, a pitiful little sound, he stood tall, rearranged his glasses, and brought his parchment up to his face.

"Anyone who does not fit the description of a palace guard, is to return to the castle immediately"

_And what exactly, is the description of a palace guard?_ thought Kaoru _I'm curious, should I have a beard?_

For a moment everyone just stood there, apparently they were all pretending to be guards. Even Kaoru could tell the vast majority of them were soldiers, stopping by the capital while their regiment leaders consulted with their higher-ups.

Then with much hustling and bustling people slowly cleared the area. Misao, however, stayed where she was looking at Kaoru with her eyebrows raised. Clearly in conflict about whether or not to take orders from a certain pudgy little man.

Kaoru made a motion with her head for Misao to follow the crowd and directions. Misao cast a final look at her subject of suspicion, and slowly followed the procession back to the castle. She didn't see why Misao was so untrusting of some random clerk, he was just a fat old man with a list.

She also didn't see Misao disappear into a tree while no one was looking.

The clerk took a look around at Kaoru and the other few remaining.

"The following items have been stolen from his majesty the king," he declared.

"One gold necklace, two ruby rings, one diamond broach, four dozen gold coins, five diamonds, and one blue gem." He shook the paper as if to get the water out, clearly a lost cause.

"By order of the royal secretary, each of theses items is to be sought and returned to my keeping before those remaining return to the castle."

One tall man near the edge of their little circle, looking confused, and rightfully so asked, "So, you want us to look for them?"

"that is correct."

This time he spoke slowly, as if this old clerk were a small child, "But you just put them in a pile over there" he motioned to the spot behind the clerk. He received a glare for his 'defiance'.

Sure enough there was the pile of muddy riches where he had dropped them earlier.

This old coots a few sheep short of a heard. 

The clerk shuffled toward the pile and began sorting through the items gathered there. He pulled out from a pocket a quill and a closed container of ink. To her amazement he sat on the ground and began to mark on his list of missing items. Each time he would look up, nod, then make a high-pitched hum as he marked the paper.

"oh my." In her opinion he didn't sound all that enthused or surprised. "one item seems to be missing." He sounded as if he were reciting the words to a badly written drama. He looked around the area for whatever it was he was missing. "we will all search for it."

He launched into his expedition with vigor that was almost endearing. While Kaoru along with her fellow guards waited for him to explain what exactly it was that they were looking for. As it was he was making a muddy mess of himself and getting nowhere for it, he obviously had no idea what he was doing, or anyway to organize such a project. He was walking about randomly, checking the same spots twice, three times, four, she seemed to be the only one bothering to count.

Eventually, someone got the nerve to ask what he was looking for. It happened to be the same tall man as before. The clerk stopped, stared, and frowned at this 'uncalled for question'.

_What is with this guy and questions, he's got one weird phobia. _Kaoru could tell her eye brows were raised, they had been for some time. _Permanent wrinkles, uhgg._

"you are looking for the only item in my detailed list, that is not in that pile." Still glaring, and snappish.

_Yikes, a wide array of…interesting…personalities, to this one._

This time the glare receiver looked annoyed, he replied snappishly, "What isn't in the pile?"

For long moments the only answer he received was yet another glare, or maybe there had only been one continuous glare, Kaoru didn't know.

Still glaring the clerk coolly asked, "What's your name?"

"Sagara, Sanosuke"

The clerk started walking around the clearing again, his hands behind his back. He lifted his chin and started to speak as he walked. To Kaoru he looked absolutely haughty in the fat rich way. "Mr. Sagara here seems to have missed the dispatch," he paused staring at each assembled worker. "now, the rest of us know that we are looking for the blue jewel."

He looked back to Sanosuke and said with a very strong hint of sarcasm, "does that answer your question."

"yes sir" defiantly ground out.

A candle blinked on in Kaoru's head. Blue jewel. "I know were the jewel is." She could just give him the stupid thing and been done with it.

She reached into her pocket and took out the gem. It didn't seem as bright and lustrous as it had when she had first grabbed it from the still unconscious thief. It was probably just because of the lack of sun, and the rain, and the rude old clerk.

She handed it to him, and he glared at her.

"what?" this guy had seem so skittish and nervous when she had first seen him, what was with all this glaring?

"An accomplice, the rest of you may leave." He never took his beady little eyes away from her shocked face. "And take the other one with you." But they were already hauling the now absolutely drenched thief with them.

"you," he jabbed a finger at her, trying to be threatening, a lost cause for this guy. He then swiped away the gem she was holding "I officially confiscate this property in the name of his majesty the king."

"that's all fine and dandy, may I go now?" her candle of patience was quickly burning out.

Sanosuke who had been witnessing their short transaction, walked or swaggered, she wasn't sure witch, it was more of a rooster like strut, toward them… and was almost crushed by Misao dropping out of a tree.

Misao immediately rushed to Kaoru's defense. "idiot, of course she's not a thief, she was questioning the perpetrator!" Kaoru sighed, not exactly the best way that could have been phrased. Sanosuke joined in Misao's rant. "Yeah, the missy was just doing her civic duty sir." Sanosuke. "you should know the facts before you accuse her of a crime!" Misao. "Yeah." Sanosuke.

And on and on it went both mouths running ahead of their brains at one hundred miles a minute.

"I will have silence, this is a serious crime and will be dealt with in the correct manner." This guy was having way too much fun with this.

_Oh, goody._

* * *

_Edit:_ Oops, sorry. I didn't realize that I could update this chapter without deleting it. So I deleted the entire thing to start from scratch. 

Sorry, but review anyway, especially if you didn't last time!

(I will update as soon as I get a few reviews, because I want people to have enough time to read this before I post chapter 2, which is already on the sight as a document)


	2. All His Men

"_Oh, the places you'll go."_

_-Dr. Sues_

**Cherio**

**Balance of Power**

**2**

In Kaoru's physical world, one very high and mighty old clerk was personally escorting her to the royal castle. Mentally, Kaoru was being driven up the wall by the injustice of it all.

Being accused of being a criminal was NOT on Kaoru's list of 'things to do while in the employment of the king.' But then, neither was trailing along behind an old clerk muttering about his own injustices. She didn't feel for him. Not at all.

At first when mister 'I'm an important paper pusher' decided that she should be tried for her 'crimes' (that's right- plural), Misao and Sanosuke had both objected, quite loudly. However, it soon became evident even to Misao that they were not getting their own way this time. That old man wasn't going to let this one go. His face had turned all sorts of lovely shades as insults and protests were flung at him like mud. The first of his colorful self he had shown was pink, then red, and then purple, after that the shades were so interestingly complex, Kaoru couldn't tell what they were. He could have almost been a chameleon, but the color of his muddy backdrop was a dead brown smear and he didn't blend in at all.

As she was lead through the castle courtyard, the buzz of excitement imposed on the residents by the rain (still falling) traveled in the busy area through hurried and eager whispers. It shocked her, she had completely forgotten how excited she had been when that first drop of rain had hit her face. That tinge of happy energy had been hastily chased away, shoed out the door by the old man in front of her.

She watched the stonewalls and fountains that had been dry for so long pass by. The secluded scenery of the forest clearing had been left behind, thankfully without the trail of dust that had irritated her earlier that evening.

Out of the rain, into the glamorous entry, the clerk still fuming. _Fine, let him stew _She thought.To the right, down a hallway, to the left, down another passage, halt by the door.

"You stay here." He said as he opened the door, wide. From her limited view, she could see that the room was small, the only furniture was a desk piled with papers, a ridged wooden chair, and clean cut shelf stacked high with books filled with notes. He walked into this office, almost tripping over stacks of files in the process. Piles and piles of papers shifted, fell, and flew all over the room in his search for that one special document. Or several special documents, he grabbed an entire Scroll, several inches thick.

He turned back to her, "what's your name?"

"Kasshin, Kaoru"

He shut and locked the door of the office behind him. He brushed right passed her, across the hall, and into another door. This room was filled with only Scrolls. Row upon row of information, the South Nation was famous to some, infamous to others (it all depends on your occupation really) for its data collection and storage.

After of much shuffling and not as much swearing, he emerged carrying not only the Scroll he had entered with. No, no, no, that is of course, too small of a miracle for a man of his genius and rank. He was in fact, carrying two scrolls.

And she could guess what those scrolls contained.

Yes, it was quite obvious what it was. Well, it was apparent to her. One, or possibly both of those files contained incorrect information. Although she considered herself an overall good person, she had to admit she wasn't an entirely honest good person. Good, just not honest. After all, honesty can only carry you so far. Eventually, there are uncomfortable questions, suspicions, unfair conclusions, and overall unpleasantness, even to people with the purest of intentions and backgrounds.

So, it was true, she did, truthfully, make things up. Lie.

He started off down the warmly lit hallway again, motioning with his head for her to follow. Down and around, they twisted turned and even circled their way back toward the entrance.

She was struck by how clean and well put together this castle was. tapestries of dark red, gold, and deep purple decorated the walls, and long rich carpets stretched through the hallways. Windows were plentiful, as were the torches that were magically charmed not to go out. There weren't many people coming and going, but enough to make the space feel lived in.

As an outer guard she lived in the barracks outside the main building. She was generally not admitted inside the main halls, all of this was new to her.

They rounded the final corner into the wide entry. It was completely deserted, except for a smartly dressed man Kaoru could see standing at the entrance to the throne room.

The clerk shuffled forward and held a hushed conversation with the man. The whole transaction was very business like:

_Whisper, whisper_

_Nod_

_Whisper, whisper_

_A look over the shoulder_

_Whisper, whisper_

_Nod._

The fancy man quietly opened the doors, and disappeared inside. Moments later he reemerged and spoke one more time with the clerk.

He shuffled back to her seriously. He straitened his back, cleared his throat, and brought the scrolls out in front of him.

"His majesty will see you shortly." He said quickly, "You will treat him with the utmost respect, bow as low as you can when you enter, do not stand until you are ordered to, do not speak, even when you are directly spoken to. Only speak when you are told to do so, and when you do speak, for the love of gods, DON'T LIE."

He gave her one more assessing glance. It was reminiscent of, but not quite the same as the looks she had received earlier from him. He turned his back to her, and began smoothing his hair and straitening his clothes. So, she did the same. She flattened her hair a little, and wiped her face. But other than that, her clothes were covered in a thick layer of mud, her hair hadn't recently been washed, and she was fairly certain she stank like a pile of fresh animal droppings. Yep, fresh from the mud hole.

Just as the doors were about to open for them, he jerked as if startled, and turned toward her, "and one more thing," he whispered in a quiet but scarily serious voice. "A word of friendly advice. Don't let him trip you up, no matter what he says you will be fine, just remain calm. Good luck."

She felt suddenly confused. _Friendly? Helpful? _It seemed so out of character for him. It bothered her, was he trying to trip her up by being nice? But what could it hurt, staying calm was a usually a good rout.

Kaoru watched the doors slowly open, then stop abruptly. They slowly walked inside.

Saying that the throne room was completely black would have been a lie. But that didn't mean it wasn't dark. As she looked around she could see that the windows had been covered by fabric to control the temperature of the room, and the amount of light coming in. It made sense to her that the blinds were there; it was the natural tendency of this land to have a lot of sun. But she could not help but notice the lack of sun coming through those windows now. A sort of eerie gray color illuminated the large, almost deserted throne room. The contact of the rain against the ceiling and window pains was practically deafening in contrast with the silence of the hall. A large, richly colored carpet was spread out on the stone floor.

Sitting on the alter was the king. She had expected the young king to either be very punctilious or blasé about his position. So many of the young and ambitious people she knew lived on extremes. Being on the extreme came with the ambition of seeking a higher place in society.

If being in law enforcement taught Kaoru anything, it was there was only room for one at the top. That one was this man before them, she knew even without looking at the crown sitting perfectly on his head. And for this man, reaching the top was as easy as existing. Because, that's exactly how he gained his great power, he was born a royal.

He sat tall on his throne, his shoulders set. But at the same time his face looked relaxed as he watched them near the end of the lavish carpet.

Kaoru couldn't help but noticing that he had a good looking face, if you ignored a jagged looking scar on his left cheek stretching upward from his chin. If he had somehow not been a royal she might have even found him attractive. But maybe not, his whole demeanor although practical, screamed power. She hated people like that, they were all fancy words and caring gestures, but all they really cared about was control. Control over everything and everyone.

She was so caught up in her inner rant that it took her a moment to realize her companion had dropped into a low bow beside her. She quickly copied the motion. She kicked herself mentally, while her timing wasn't off by much, it was noticeably jerky. So much for the initiation of her calm and collected meeting with the king.

"You may rise" in his serious voice there was the faint flicker of amusement, then again he might have been annoyed. Kaoru had no doubt he was laughing at her behind that business like expression of his. But again it wasn't attractive, not on this man.

"Your majesty, this is the guard who retrieved the criminal and your belongings." Said her chaperon.

The king flashed a quick but brilliant smile. And continued on pensively. "I see, Genzai, please give me her information." Genzai, the clerk handed over the folders he had collected.

King Himura looked through her files, then up at her "Miss…" he looked back down at the papers "Kasshin is it?"

Kaoru lowered her gaze respectively in an effort to look humbled, meek, and mild. She looked up at him cautiously through her lashes in what Misao would call the look of the low way. "Yes, your majesty." She added a slight tremor to her voice for effect. It wasn't as hard as it should have been.

He smiled at her then. It was a mocking yet pitying twist of his lips, suggesting to her that he knew something she didn't. He leaned toward her. Still smiling as he said one of the most horrible things that he could have possibly posed at that moment.

"What is your real name?"

In her shock her composure faltered, she quickly regained her wits, hoping he hadn't noticed. That was a blow she hadn't been expecting, she had expected accusation and interrogation of course, just not about that particular subject.

Genzai gave a surprised jolt at his king's question. "Surely it must be my king," he said looking even more shocked than she was at his acquisition. "The records can't be wrong." He struggled with his words, no longer looking that everything was going according to his plan, and that scared her.

"There is no Kasshin clan in my country of Endys," stated Himura "the only Kasshin clan I am aware of is a noble family in Yendor. You don't look like a Yendorian Noble" although his tone was regal and serious she know he was teasing her, but she had to defend herself.

She was now struggling to look unaffected. She was caught between righteous anger at his blatant disregard for her intelligence, and fear that she might be punished for lying to him - indirect as it was. She knew this was not good, she had broken Genzai's rule about lying before she had even heard of it.

"How are you so sure your majesty?" She was proud of the calm and collected tone of her voice. She found it hard to believe he could know something so mundane as the existence of a single peasant clan. After all there were thousands upon thousands of families in Endys, how could he possibly know them all. Besides, There had to be more than one Kasshin Family in the world.

Her pride and slight contempt slightly overran the realization that this conversation was bound to get away from her.

"I just know." It was simply infuriating how decisive and matter of fact he made this seem, as if it was antiquate evidence.

"That doesn't answer my question." She knew she was overstepping her bounds. He was a powerful man, a powerful man who might take offence, both at her lying and her disrespect.

"I am not required to answer your question."

"It would be chivalrous of you." She persisted besides.

"The code of chivalry is for nobles, I thought we had agreed that you are not a noble."

"That's an arrogant thing to say, that only nobles are worthy of being treated fairly."

He raised his eyebrows in surprise, and she realized she had just called the king a snob. She was having one of those horrified moments received with the realization that you have not just overstepped, but obliterated the bounds set before you.

If he noticed her terror he did not comment or pursue interrogation about the fact. The king seemed to be lost in deep thought. He continued to stare right through her; he hardly blinked and never moved his eyes away.

"Anyway, it doesn't really matter" he said after this deliberation.

"What doesn't matter?" had he changed the subject on her? Or did he not care that she had just called him something plenty of nobles would imprison a person for? What conclusion had he come to?

"You're name. You could be the goddess herself for all I care, but I owe you my gratitude for your assistance" any semblance of a joking demeanor had fled; there was something he wanted to finish, perhaps. Or something he had to say to her.

"That is what you pay me for, Majesty." She answered, ever the good servant. But more importantly, she was glad he was not delving further into the issues brought up at this meeting, at least not at this moment. She was certain she had not heard the end of it though. He said that it did not matter, but anyone who is anyone knows that the king is no fool. And only a fool would ignore the signs of potentially dangerous fraud. As far as he knew she could be anyone, a spy, an assassin, a smuggler, or a runaway.

"Yes it is, very well done." His tone indicated that their discussion was done. "Genzai, until I can make a decision on the subject of advancement or reward for Miss… Kasshin… I want you to find a room for her in the main building for her to stay in for the time being." Turning his head slightly to address Kaoru he said, "besides the change in sleeping accommodations you may continue as you were. I will summon you when I have decided on how to proceed from here. You are dismissed."

Genzai bowed and she followed his lead with a feint echo of "your majesty". Genzai led the way out by baking two paces before turning and heading for the door. She followed none to slowly at his heels, eager to leave the tension of the room behind.

She was about to follow Genzai out the door when the king gave one last comment from his throne, "I would advise you to remember Miss Kasshin, I can prove it."

The next second, she was away.

* * *

The king left his seat of honor through the hallway hidden behind an old tapestry. He felt clearly what had to be done, but not how to go about doing it. While he flew down the hall unattended, he fingered his returned jewel in his pocket. The deserted halls he walked were halls that only those given specific royal permission were allowed to tread. Kenshin knew that the first spatter of rain on the castle wall would have brought Shinamori to an old and small office near the back entrance. He also knew Shinamori knew he would arrive there as well.

As he walked he considered his exchange with Genzai and the supposed Kasshin. He knew he could have her imprisoned for fraud, and he was seriously considering that as an option. He didn't want to do it, he liked her, she was pretty but practical, and he liked the way she had argued her point. But before he made the final decision on the girls fate, he needed to consult with Aoshi, and that's exactly what he intended to do.

Kenshin opened an unremarkable door near the end of the hall, and quietly stepped inside to a warmly lit room. Aoshi Shinamori was seated beside what appeared to be a dinette for two. He was alone, without a scribe without even a pen or a paper for notes, as this little discourse would be off the record.

Kenshin sat down in a smart and strait wooden chair opposite from his long time conspirator. He didn't waste time with pomp and ceremony; he knew Aoshi would appreciate that.

"The rain is here" he said, matter-of-fact.

"Yes, and the blue stone?" Shinamori returned.

"Is once again in my possession, although, it was stolen from me by a man who has yet to be interrogated. That will be part of your job. My treasure was returned to me by a Miss Kasshin. These are her papers" Kenshin handed Aoshi the file he had brought with him. "Whether or not that that is her real name was a subject of debate" Kenshin smiled somewhat fondly. "but the fact is, I believe the blue stone reacted to her. It was either her or the thief, but I am inclined to believe the former because it would have started raining when he first took it from my personal storage box." Kenshin took a pause debating on how to go about the next idea he had to articulate.

"If it is indeed Miss Kasshin who this thing recognizes," he pulled out his jewel. "Which we will know after interrogating are newest prisoner. We will need to take some course of action to ensure that she stays breathing, and at some point we will have to insure that she reproduces. For this I have thought of several solutions: I could have her imprisoned on some charge or another, one happens to have revealed itself in her name. This would keep her alive, we would be able to keep a close eye on her, but she would not marry and I would not be so cruel as to force her to have the child of a man she will never marry nor possibly even care for."

Aoshi interrupted him. "This plan also implies that we would be inclined to imprison any children she has or, any future decedents, which would be against our own laws and it would not look good on you and I if word got out that we were unlawfully holding innocent civilians."

"Exactly. We might be able to make it all work, if nothing else seems a better option, but I would rather not go that rout." Kenshin continued.

"My next Idea was to reward her recent service to me by elevating her noble status. She would have access to bodyguards and also would be required to be at court where we can both make sure she stays out of the way of any threats. But she is not an idiot, she would know that something is amiss to receive such an award for so little a favor. Which brings up another question: Do we want her to know about this whole situation? I don't want to tell her if she will decide that in knowing she can go barter her special talent at other courts. I want to be sure we can trust her before she is told. And with becoming a noble she would certainly have questions regarding why."

Aoshi interrupted him again. "Are you sure? I think she would be grateful enough to let the subject of whether or not she is deserving drop."

"Not this girl, believe me, she will have questions."

"I could always set her up to do something more heroic and deserving I suppose." Kenshin mused mostly to himself.

"If you were not caught in the act that would be ideal, yes. If you made her a noble you might even marry her yourself, having the blue stones chosen would certainly strengthen you're own bloodline."

The worst part about what Aoshi just said was that Kenshin thought it was a good idea, not just because of the obvious political implications, but because he found her attractive on a more personal level. Considering he might still have to put her in prison, not a good thing.

"I still don't think that's a good idea, Tomoe would be a better marriage candidate, she has an entire country, not just a bit of water. But that isn't the point. The point is I can't just make and marry a baroness who no one has heard of, people -- including her -- would ask questions.

"My last thought is that I could give her a promotion. I could put her in a position that is safer than she has now. I could make her some old obscure widows bodyguard, or something of the kind. She would be out of the way at least, she would be free to find a marriage prospect, and she would be very safe."

"She would not be close enough that we could keep tabs on her around the clock though" Aoshi pointed out. "What I think you should do is make her your bodyguard. Nobody would question it, because a king should have a distinguished bodyguard – which we could make her out to be – and you currently have none since your… promotion of Saitoh. If anyone enquires to her peasant background you can say that you don't want her becoming too interested in your work."

Kenshin considered this; it did seem ideal, although the peasant bodyguard was a little hard to believe. He would be capable of dealing with anything that was a threat before it confronted her. He didn't want to put her and her future family in a jail cell for no reason. He also didn't want to make the girl a noble because he didn't want to explain to born nobles why he up and decided that he didn't have enough nobles already. Nobody would notice or care about his new bodyguard. He could also stop trying to evade Aoshi when he insisted that Kenshin find someone to replace Saitoh. It all seemed as near perfect as anything in politics ever is, except…

"Aoshi about her surname… I want you to have someone look into it, I want to know what is really going on with this Kaoru Kasshin."

"Of course, my king."

"Good. I will see you on the morrow." Kenshin stood, exited and decided that it was time for dinner, and maybe, if he was really feeling outgoing, time to speak with Saitoh.

* * *

Kaoru decided she was really feeling better about Genzai. He was a much nicer person than she had originally perceived him to be. What had passed between them up until meeting the king must have been some sort of misunderstanding. He was being perfectly civil now. They had traveled first to her shared room with Misao and a few other women (their still weren't many women in the armed defense, even though it had been years since they were first allowed to join), where she picked up a few of her things that she would need during the next night or two. He had then taken her to a laundry room where she piled sheets and a pillow on top of her clothes. Finally, laden down with tons of fabric and unable to see the ground in front of her, they were walking to her temporary room.

"Here you are Miss Kasshin." Genzai broke into her thoughts. "It isn't much, but it's functional."

Kaoru looked about her. It was a small but comfortable room, more like a large closet with a window and a single bed that had a headboard, which was nice. There was a trunk for her clothes and a small desk in the corner with a wooden chair. There was a thin layer of dust covering the open surfaces in this room, as nothing was covered with sheets. For the cleaning of this dust a broom was propped up near the door.

As Kaoru looked around Genzai continued to speak. "I imagine you will want to be settling in, I will come get you for dinner." He gave her an encouraging smile, and left to other things she supposed.

"Thank you." she called after him.

She set down her load on the ground to get a better look at the room. She kept the door open because it was stuffy and opened a window to let some fresh air in. It was when she began patting the bed with her broom to loosen the dust that she realized the full weight of her situation. It caused her to pause for a moment, to let the realization sink in that her life was completely in the kings hands, more so than it ever had been before. He could be plotting to have her executed, this very moment, if he simply decided he didn't like her. He was aware that she was keeping something from his government. She felt completely helpless. She wished Misao were with her. She wished her father hadn't up and died to leave her in a mess like this, she missed him at this moment more than she had for over two years.

For what seemed like hours she sat on the edge of her bed, she may have shed a few tears. She didn't know, everything seemed so surreal. At the end of her revelations she finally stood up, grabbed her broom again, and began to clean her room.

She had just finished making her bed for the night when she heard a tap at her window (she had closed it after a while because it had gotten cold.) the rain had long since quieted down, she knew it had to be a person. She snatched up her broom again, she realized later that her sword -- a much more useful weapon—was sitting right next to her trunk. She was calculating how long it would take her to beet the intruder to a bloody pulp when the window burst open and Misao landed feet first next to her desk.

"I see he didn't sentence you to life just yet." She commented, studying Kaoru's new room intently.

"No, not yet."

Misao took a seat on her desk. "Aoshi came to talk to me. He had some interesting news, Kaoru." Misao was more serious than Kaoru had seen her in a long while.

"So what was it?"

"He said the king was the victim of some embezzlement. Disturbing news to me. Maybe not to you. There are some things about the whole situation that I can't share with you, Kaoru. I half wish I could, but I took an binding oath, and I will make sure you come out of this whole situation just fine, I promise."

Kaoru was silent as she considered what Misao was saying. Something important enough to involve the top two men in the country obviously had something to do with her. She felt her heart sink deeper near her stomach despite Misao's reassuring words. "Thank you, Misao."

"You're welcome!" she replied brightly. _Well I see the time for serious discussion has passed._ Kaoru thought somewhat dryly.

"How is Sanosuke?"

"Oh, he's just fine. He says if theirs anything he can do for you he'd be happy to do it. If you ask me, you shouldn't trust a rooster." Misao sounded offhand about it.

"I'm sure he's a… nice guy… maybe a little dense… but nice." Kaoru defended her defender.

Misao just gave an unladylike snort. "So, how did you like Mr. King man, huh?" Misao wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "Quite the handsome man aint 'e?"

"I didn't notice." Kaoru lied.

"Liar" Misao sang. "But I heard that he's been contemplating a marriage to the crown princess of Hara up north. What's her name again… Tomoe! Yeah, that's it! What a marriage that'd make. They're both such beautiful people." Misao said in a dreamy voice.

"He's getting married?"

"Of coarse he's getting married! We all gotta go sometime. And he's the king, he needs a brat."

"True…"

Kaoru felt a stab of unjustified disappointment that she worked quickly to suppress. He wasn't for her, she knew. She just felt sorry for the guy, being forced into a political marriage. After all, even though he was the king, he was just a man.

They passed a few moments in silence, conversation having run dry. It might have been awkward, Kaoru thought, had it been anyone other than Misao with her.

When they heard footsteps returning down the hall, Misao gave her a quick hug goodbye and lunged back out the window. Kaoru shut it behind her as Genzai was knocking on the open door.

"Come in" she called quietly.

He took a quick glance around him to review her work. "Looks nice, but its cold."

"I opened a window to air it out." She explained. Seeming to accept this answer he nodded.

"Well, come with me, dinner is ready. I will let the staff fill you in on how meals are run."

* * *

Kaoru lay in her bed that night after dinner. She had met some nice people in the few hours she spent in the cafeteria. There had only been servants there, of course.

Much of the apprehension she had felt earlier that evening had settled below the surface, and she was feeling much more relaxed. She knew it hadn't disappeared, however. Even if Himura's decision was in her favor, she would still be wondering the rest of her life, looking over her soldier to make sure he hadn't changed his mind. She had already considered a few outlets, in case things ever got bad again in the future, she still didn't want to need them.

So that night as she drifted to sleep she thought, _what now?  
_

* * *

Not far from where she was sleeping, someone was waking.

The nameless thief let the stench of the basement air fill his nostrils because he needed the air more than he hated the smell. His accommodations were somewhat less than luxurious, and he could put up with the reek for the brief time he would be there. He didn't bother to stretch his limbs or open his eyes.

He felt dread, but not of his captors. He was terrified of a man sitting in a dark mansion room miles away. Knowing he would suffer torture and painful death, he used a shackled hand to reach into a special pocket in his clothes. He pulled out a needle that shone with an eerie red glow in light of a single candle farther down the hall. Without hesitation, he jabbed the sharp end deep into his arm.

Within minutes, he was dead.

* * *

All right chapter 2 after a very very long wait, and I'm sorry for the few of you who read this.

In this chapter I used a line from Guys and Dolls (movie version) if you can find it review and tell me.

Even if you can't find it, please review! Even if it's to tell me how much you hate me and my story. It's really disheartening to write something and then find out people don't like it.


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